Editing Altenburg, Missouri (section)

==History==
Altenburg (German for "Old Castle") was laid out and [[plat]]ted in 1839 by a colony of Lutherans.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xcxWsmxRzVEC&pg=RA1-PA4 | title=Missouri Roadsides: The Traveler's Companion | publisher=University of Missouri Press | author=Earngey, Bill | year=1995 | pages=4| isbn=9780826210210 }}</ref>  It was named after the [[Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg]] from where many of its settlers came, and not the city of [[Altenburg]] which does not seem to have sent a single colonist.<ref>Perry County, Missouri Place Names, 1928-1945 - The State Historical Society of Missouri http://shs.umsystem.edu/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_perry.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331203235/http://shs.umsystem.edu/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_perry.html |date=March 31, 2016 }}</ref>

Altenburg is one of seven towns and villages in the area founded by [[Saxon Lutheran Immigration 1838-1839|German Lutheran immigrants]] in 1839. Altenburg and the other communities—[[Dresden, Perry County, Missouri|Dresden]], [[Frohna, Missouri|Frohna]], [[New Wells, Missouri|Johannisberg]], [[Uniontown, Missouri|Paitzdorf]], [[Seelitz, Perry County, Missouri|Seelitz]], and [[Wittenberg, Missouri|Wittenberg]]—were all named by settlers for towns in the [[Saxony]] region of their native country.<ref name="McMillen">{{cite book|last=McMillen|first=Margot Ford|title=''Paris, Tightwad and Peculiar: Missouri Place Names''|year=1994|publisher=University of Missouri Press|pages=55–56|location=Columbia, Missouri|isbn=0-8262-0972-6}}</ref> These settlers would form the backbone of what would later become the [[Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod]]. [[Trinity Lutheran Church (Altenburg, Missouri)|Trinity Lutheran Church]] was established in 1839 in a log cabin, and was later replaced by a limestone, and then a frame church. Soon after arriving, the immigrants constructed a school in Altenburg. Made of native timber, this "[[Concordia Log Cabin College (Altenburg, Missouri)|Log Cabin College]]" introduced the new idea of a co-educational school, a rarity at the time.<ref name="McMillen"/> Today, Altenburg is home to the Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum, established in 1985. Tourists can explore several mid-19th century buildings that remain in the community as well as the Heritage Center's exhibition hall as well as the reading room and research library.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.altenburgmuseum.org/|title=Lutheran Heritage Center & Museum|website=Lutheran Heritage Center & Museum|access-date=September 25, 2012|archive-date=March 25, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325110426/http://www.altenburgmuseum.org/|url-status=usurped}}</ref>